Planning to succeed

Saturday

Feb 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - The city unveiled a slate of ambitious plans Friday for turning around Stockton's violent culture along with a barrage of trends, facts and figures underpinning high crime that for years have tarnished the city's reputation and plagued residents.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - The city unveiled a slate of ambitious plans Friday for turning around Stockton's violent culture along with a barrage of trends, facts and figures underpinning high crime that for years have tarnished the city's reputation and plagued residents.

In addition to the proven gang diversion programs called Peacekeepers and Project Ceasefire, which is in its early stages of a comeback in Stockton, the city identified more ventures that have worked in troubled cities across the nation and could change lives here.

One called Becoming a Man targets boys with a D average in school and ripe for gang recruitment, pairing them with a mentor and sports programs, such as night basketball.

In the Hospital Response program, counselors intervene after a violent crime. The rationale is that friends and family members often plot their retaliation at the hospital bedside of their injured loved one.

This discussion came in a four-hour symposium, culminating eight months of work by the city's Marshall Plan on crime steering committee and consultants hired by Stockton.

The city invited about 200 community members to the Progressive Community Church to listen and give feedback. The event was designed to launch a dialogue with the community on what steps to take next.

City Manager Bob Deis, who has guided the effort, acknowledged that Stockton's bankruptcy is a complicating factor, but it is no excuse for failing to take action.

"It's not whether we're going to do this," Deis said. "It's when and how."

While Stockton does not control much of the criminal justice system outside its police department, it is taking the lead in solving the larger crime problems because Stockton experiences the most violence.

Public outcry for officials to act peaked last year - the most deadly in Stockton's history.

Criminal justice consultants David Bennett and Donna Lattin, hired to unearth the root of Stockton's crime, shared their findings. They have pored over crime data and toured the courts, jails, police department and streets.

They found known "hot spots" or historic crime areas. The good news is that there are known methods for changing that. They also identified what doesn't work, such as youth boot camps and scared straight classes, Lattin said.

"Getting tough on crime is just not good enough," Lattin said. "Getting soft on crime is just not good enough. We have to get savvy."

Stewart Wakeling, the consultant hired to launch Ceasefire, said much of Stockton's gun crime is perpetrated by its most active 18 gangs and their 700 members.

Armed with data, key players in the Stockton Police Department in April will begin "call in" sessions, bringing in a select few for group meetings to offer either a helping hand or show them the heavy hand of the law that awaits them.

With a focus on these known and chronic offenders - often young men - the city's overwhelming violence becomes manageable, Wakeling said.

"We don't want to just keep them alive," he said. "We want them to have better lives."

Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones explained how the city's finances have crippled his department. He named specific Stockton intersections where crime and violence too often erupt.

Kelley and Salters drives is one where residents distrust police, and an open drug market goes unchecked at the intersection of Sonora and Sutter streets, he said.

In 2011, Stockton had the second highest crime and violence rates in the state, and it ranked as the nation's 10th most violent city. In 2012, the city hit a record of 71 homicides, marking a 22 percent increase over the past year.

Budget cuts since 2009 robbed his department of 99 officers and many civilian employees. His department is worse staffed than any other city nationwide of its size and crime rate, Jones said.

Stockton has a budget to employ 344 officers, but a city of its size and complexity needs closer to 590. Stockton has no narcotics unit, and property crimes take a backseat to triage violence, he said.

Jones said his officers tell him they became cops to solve crimes, but they are running from one violent crime to another.

"They want to make their community better," he said. "They get weary responding to emergency to emergency to emergency."

A panel of former gang members took center stage in the symposium, bringing the harsh reality of street culture into the room - and hope that this is not a losing battle.

Stan Thomas, a former gang member and now outreach worker with Peacekeeper, told his story of coming from an abusive home, starting with drugs as a boy and having to learn to read as an adult.

He got out before it was too late and often asks hardened gang members why they're the only ones around who don't know they're going to die early.

"The last guy I told that," Thomas said. "I saw him walking down the street. He was killed a week later."

Samuel Diaz, 18, a client of the Peacekeepers described having a gun put in his lap at age 8 growing up in San Jose. He landed behind bars for "some really big stuff," facing a 40-year prison sentence. He asked for help.

Today, he's about to graduate from high school and in the painful process of getting his gang tattoos removed with Peacekeepers' help.

"Gangs lead you to two words - dead end," he said.

Community members were invited to speak.

Former City Council member Duane Isetti noted that Ceasefire once thrived in Stockton. And then it vanished. He doesn't want to be part of a discussion after 15 years having the same conversation about reviving it, Isetti said.